1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club head and more specifically to an improved sole configuration of a golf club head.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Conventional iron-type golf clubs, particularly wedges and other higher loft irons, have smooth bottoms or sole surfaces. With conventional golf club heads, a substantial portion of the club sole engages the ground surface during the execution of a shot, causing the club head to decelerate considerably and to torque, or turn because of the resistance encountered. This is particularly true when a ball is lying in a less than ideal position, such as a divot depression, rough, heavy grass, hard or rocky ground, a sand trap or other naturally occurring areas other than a closely cut fairway.
Higher loft irons, e.g., sand wedges, usually have bounce which reacts with the sand or earth to produce club head action which lifts a golf ball to the target. Often these shots are not properly executed resulting in the ball not getting out of the hazard when not enough sand is moved to lift the ball. When hitting a golf ball, an iron-type golf club, especially a pitching or sand wedge may bounce up on the ground or cannot strike properly deep into the sands, that is, such a pitching or sand wedge may top the ball and thus it is difficult to control the ball by use of such conventional pitching or sand wedge. When these golf clubs are used in the fairway and ground contact is made behind the ball, the club head can bounce upward causing the ball to be "skulled" or "bladed", producing disastrous results. Conventional iron-type golf clubs with a smooth sole surface also have a tendency to bounce, causing the same problems, although normally to a lesser degree.
It is generally known to reduce the contact area of the sole surface of the golf club head to thereby prevent the golf club head from bouncing up on the ground and at the same time the central portion of the sole surface is left as it is to thereby prevent the golf club head from striking too deeply into the ground. Conventional wedges, when used to play a ball out of a hazard, rely on the bounce configuration of the sole to facilitate contacting the sand and to prevent the leading edge of the club from digging into the hazard, i.e., sand, too deeply. Furthermore, the golf club is usually laid open, further exposing the sole to the sand surface when such a shot is required. Thus, these clubs are designed to hit down into the sand, behind the ball, in order to move sand at the ball, which in turn, moves the ball out of the bunker to the target. The shot can be difficult and requires a certain level of skill since hitting down into the sand causes a majority of the sand to fly upward, with a large portion of the sand missing the ball completely. Since the surface of the sole, forming the bounce portion, is relatively smooth, only a limited amount of sand is generally directed at the ball to lift it out of the bunker.
When a golfer strikes the golf ball, the ball is flattened out against the face of the club. Thereafter, due to elasticity, the ball begins to resume its round shape, thus propelling itself in a direction very nearly normal to the club face (assuming no spin about a vertical axis of the ball). However, the swing of the golf club should not stop when the ball leaves the club face. It is well known that a golfer perfects his or her swing by following through smoothly after impact between the striking surface of the golf club and the golf ball. It would be desirable to provide a golf club head having a configuration which facilitates the "follow through" without detracting from the performance of the club in other respects, particularly the correlated bounce effect when it is provided. As previously noted, the elasticity of the ball propels it in a direction that is nearly normal to the striking face, but not quite because at the moment of impact, the golf club head is cutting across a line in the direction of the intended line of flight, i.e., across a line on the ground in a direction normal to the club head at the moment of impact, assuming a stroke with the face of the club square and not "open" or "closed". The face of the club is referred to being "open" when it is turned clockwise by a right handed golfer at the moment of impact as the player swings the club. A "closed" face occurs when the face of the club is turned counterclockwise by a right handed golfer as the player strokes the ball. When the face of the club head is "open", the ball will hook when the player makes contact with the ball and a "closed" face will result in the ball being sliced when the club head makes contact with the ball. The club head cuts across the other side of that line relative to the golfer to the near side of the line. The fact that the club head is cutting across can be verified by observing the sole of any golf club that has been extensively used by a consistent golfer. It will be marked with scratch lines that are off from a direction normal to the club face by a small angle. It would be desirable to provide a configuration for the sole, toe and heel portions of the club head which will facilitate the follow through and allow a golfer to cleanly approach a golf ball during the golfer's stroke so that the striking face surface cleanly contacts the golf ball resulting in an accurate shot.